


What Friends Do

by Zivicio



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Friendship, Jori - Freeform, Rape/Non-con Elements, but descriptions of jades finding, no explicit descriptions of the rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:33:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21749827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zivicio/pseuds/Zivicio
Summary: “No. Listen to me. It’s not your fault. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else- and they might not have had a friend to find them and take them to the hospital.”For the very first time, Tori called them friends, and Jade didn’t disagree.orTori is date raped at a party. Jade finds her.
Relationships: Tori Vega & Jade West, Tori Vega/Jade West
Comments: 10
Kudos: 247





	What Friends Do

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warning: Elements of rape.

Jade pushed through people until she got to the staircase - she had looked through the entire lower floor and outside, and hadn’t found Vega. The only place left was upstairs- and Jade really, really didn’t want to look upstairs.

But she was the designated driver tonight, and that meant corralling all her drunk friends to bring them home, even if they were blacked out, throwing up, or having sex.

Jade really, really hoped she wasn’t about to walk in on Vega having sex.

When she found her, three minutes later, she found something worse.

“Vega?” Jade turned the light switch on and her heart stopped.

“Oh God.” She swiftly shut the door and locked it behind her, not wanting anyone else to see the scene in front of her. Jade had seen the worst of the worst horror movies, something she was proud of - but none of them made her feel the way seeing this had.

Tori was laying on the bed, unmoving. Her shirt was pushed up and she was naked from the waist down, and there was blood on the sheets between her legs.

Jade felt sick to her stomach but approached regardless.

“Vega?” Jade’s voice was soft, hesitant. Tori was unresponsive, so Jade reached a shaking hand out to her neck.

It was the few scariest moments of her life before she found a pulse.

“Okay. Okay.” Jade pulled out her phone and dialed the one person she knew she could trust. Thankfully he picked up immediately.

“Beck?”

“If you’re drunk, I’m not picking you up. I told you I was busy tonight,” Beck said, sounding exasperated.

“No. But I need you to come out here, to the party.” Beck had stayed home tonight after he and Jade had a fight earlier in the day. This was now something Jade was immensely grateful for.

“Jade-”

“No, listen to me, Beck. Put aside whatever issues we have, and listen to me. I need you to come out here. I will have Cat and Andre wait for you outside. I need you to take them home. You need to get here as fast as you can, okay?” Jade’s voice was low and quick, anxious in a way Beck had never heard before.

“Okay,” He said, an uneasy feeling forming in his gut from the tone of her voice.

“I’ll text you the address. Be quick.” Jade hung up and immediately texted Beck the address of the house party - thankfully it was still in her phone’s clipboard from when she had copy-pasted it into her maps app earlier. Then she pocketed her phone and turned back to Tori.

“Okay. Fuck.” Jade quickly scanned the room and found Tori’s jeans and underwear in a bundle on the floor, on the other side of the bed. She grabbed them and pulled Tori to the edge of the bed, grimacing as she did so.

“Christ. I can do this.” Jade took a deep breath before putting Tori’s underwear and jeans back on her, being as gentle as she could while still moving quickly with dead weight. Tori’s phone and wallet were in her back pockets, so Jade grabbed both of them and shoved them into her own before picking up Tori bridal style.

Swearing every few seconds, Jade managed to make her way down the stairs and out of the house with Tori in her arms.

“Andre!” Jade called as soon as she opened the front door. Andre and Cat were already waiting for her outside.

“Jade!” Cat called in reply, but Andre held her back from running up to Jade.

“There you are, girl. What took you so long?” Andre asked, his arm around Cat’s shoulders.

“Listen to me. Beck is on his way. He’ll take you guys home, okay?” Jade said, looking Andre in the eyes as she spoke, trying to convey as much seriousness as she could.

Andre got the message despite his drunken state. “Uh, yeah, okay. Where are you going?” He asked, turning to face Jade as she walked past him.

“Stay here!” Jade answered in reply, not looking back to see if he actually did so. She had to walk a ways down the block to where she had parked, and her arms were hurting and tired, but she eventually got Tori into the backseat of her car. She quickly commanded her phone to take her to the nearest hospital, and tore down the street as fast as she safely could.

The drive consisted of Jade swearing under her breath and glancing at Tori in her rearview mirror, who still had yet to move. Jade wasn’t sure if she wanted her to wake up or not; on one hand, it would be a good sign. On the other, Jade didn’t want to explain why Tori was waking up in the backseat of her car.

Either way, she got to the hospital and Tori still had yet to wake up. Jade parked as close as she could - which wasn’t really that close considering it was a Friday night - and determinedly carried Tori all the way into the building.

“Hey!” Jade caught the nurse at the desk’s attention.

“Miss?”

“I need you to run a rape kit on this girl.” Jade was out of breath and her arms were shaking, but she wasn’t going to drop Tori.

“We’ll take her back, but we can’t do anything until she wakes up,” The nurse told her.

The nurse quickly got a different nurse, who took Tori from Jade. Jade heaved a sigh of relief and braced herself against the front counter.

“What happened?” The first nurse asked, ready to write down whatever Jade said.

“And you’re her friend?” The nurse asked after Jade had told her the gist of it.

“Fuck, I guess,” Jade said. The nurse gathered what information Jade could tell her - which was a surprising amount to her - but Jade remembered everything from when she had looked through Tori’s medical records.

She guessed it was a good thing now.

Shortly thereafter Jade was able to sit down. She wasted no time in getting Tori’s phone from her pocket, though she always thought that if she were to ever unlock it - she knew the password, she knew how to unlock all her friends’ phones - it would be with somewhat malicious intent. But instead she was at the hospital about to call Tori’s dad to tell him some of the worst news he would ever get in his life.

“Tori?” Jade breathed a sigh of relief as David Vega answered the phone.

“Not quite. Mr. Vega, Ve- Tori’s in the hospital.” Jade had to refrain from calling her ‘Vega’ to her father.

“I’m sorry, what? What hospital?” Jade heard rustling on the other side of the phone, presumably the sound of David getting up and grabbing his keys.

“I don’t know, the closest one? Look, just get here and bring your badge, and ask for her,” Jade said.

“Is she okay?” David asked as a door closed in the background.

Jade sighed.

“I don’t know.”

* * *

Even though she was allowed back to Tori’s room, it was the longest twenty minutes of Jade’s life waiting for Tori to wake up. She sat in a chair next to the bed, head in her hands, her leg bouncing nervously, until Tori groaned and Jade’s head snapped up so quick she hurt her neck.

“Vega?” Jade called tentatively. Tori moved her head to look at Jade, blinking hazily before squinting at Jade.

“Jade?” Tori’s voice was gravelly from sleep, “What…?”

“Don’t worry about it. Your dad’s on his way.” Jade sat up straight in her chair to get a better look at Tori, her leg still bouncing nervously. She was not looking forward to having to explain all of this to Tori’s father.

“Are you in any pain?” Jade asked. Tori was so out of it she didn’t question the occurrence.

“Not really… the lights are pretty bright,” Tori said slowly.

“Keep your eyes closed then,” Jade replied. Her voice lacked its usual bite.

David Vega barged into the room five minutes later.

“Tori?” He was immediately at her side, “Are you okay?”

“Dad… hm, Jade won’t tell me what happened,” Tori replied. Both Vegas then looked to Jade, who grimaced.

“I wanted to wait for you to get here,” Jade said, looking at David. She ran a hand through her hair.

“We were at a party. It was Andre, Cat, Tori and myself. I was the designated driver tonight. Um… Tori disappeared about halfway through the night, but I didn’t think anything of it until I was gathering everyone to leave about two and a half hours later.” Jade shook her said, trying to brace herself to get the next words out.

“When I found her… She was alone, in a dark room, on the bed. Unconscious. Her shirt was pushed up, and-” Jade looked at the ground and closed her eyes, “And she was naked from the waist down. There was blood on the sheets. So, I called Beck. Told him to come get Cat and Andre, and bring them home. Then I redressed her and brought her here. And told them to do a rape kit on her. But they said they couldn’t until she woke up”

Jade reluctantly looked back up from the floor, where Tori held a hand over her mouth with tears in her eyes. Her father brought her into a hug as he tried not to cry.

“I’m so sorry,” Jade said to both of them, her voice almost a whisper.

After a moment, David breathed in harshly. “Can we have a minute alone, please?” He requested, not removing himself from his daughter.

Jade stood up quickly, “Of course. I’ll- be outside.”

Jade shut to door behind her and debated going to the bathroom or the waiting room, but decided on the bathroom. As she pulled her phone from her pocket she realized she still had Tori’s- she’d have to give that back.

Thankfully the bathroom was empty, and Jade could stop in front of the mirror and take a moment in peace. She held herself up with both hands on the counter, her head down - she didn’t want to look at herself in the mirror yet. She got the sudden urge to make sure her other friends were okay, so she called Beck.

“Did you get Andre and Cat home okay?” She asked instead of a greeting when Beck picked up.

“Yeah, they’re fine. Jade, what happened?” Beck’s voice was soft over the tinny speaker and it was a small comfort.

“I had to take Vega to the hospital. She was date raped,” Jade answered quietly. It was silent over the line for a few seconds before Beck responded.

“Oh god.” Was Beck’s response. They mourned quietly for another few seconds.

“Is she okay?” He asked.

“I don’t even know what qualifies as okay in this situation,” Jade answered, her words quick like she was angry but shaking to betray her deepest feelings.

“She’s alive. She’s awake now, with her dad. I’m in the bathroom- he asked for a moment alone after I told them both. She doesn’t remember anything, I don’t think.” Jade was struggling not to break down right there.

“Vega isn’t even my friend, but  _ fuck-  _ Beck, I’m-” Jade leant down onto her forearms and forced herself to take deep breaths.

“Yeah. I get it,” Beck said calmly, “I would be too. It’s okay. You’re allowed to break down.”

Jade promptly began crying into her arms, hunched over the sink counter, with her phone on the counter and Beck on the other end.

“I don’t even know why I’m so upset,” Jade said minutes later, when she had finished for the most part.

“Because it’s scary, and fucked up. Anyone would be upset, whether it was a stranger or not,” Beck soothed.

Jade nodded, “I think being a girl makes it scarier… One of our worst nightmares come to life,  right there .”

“Of course.”

“You can’t tell anyone about this, okay, Beck? Not just me crying, I mean the whole thing. No one. Not your parents, not our friends.” Beck agreed and Jade hung up after thanking him and saying she should get back to Tori. She looked in the mirror and huffed a broken laugh - her mascara was everywhere, and she looked ridiculous. She cleaned up what she could with the bathroom’s paper towels, but was forced to accept the fact that she would look a bit raccoon-ish until she could get back to her purse in her car.

Jade knocked before entering Tori’s room - something that Tori would take note of days later, when she was recalling everything - and hesitantly poked her head in before entering fully.

“Hey. I have your phone and wallet,” Jade said, pulling them out of her pockets and approaching Tori like it wasn’t obvious she just cried over the phone to her ex in the bathroom.

Tori gave her a broken smile that made Jade’s stomach roil all over again. “Thank you.”

“Yeah.” Jade stepped back, “You probably want me to leave now.” She glanced nervously between Tori and her father, taking another step back.

“Jade,” Tori spoke softly, stopping her in her tracks.

“Come back.” Tori patted the bed. Jade hesitantly agreed and sat down, looking down at her.

Tori put her hand on Jade’s own. “Thank you,” she said, meeting Jade’s gaze. It had been a long time since they had looked into each other’s eyes for more than a second in a way that wasn’t a challenge.

“Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t found me. So thank you.” Tori squeezed Jade’s hand. Jade glanced down at it, opened her mouth to argue the if she had been more observant, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place- but Tori cut her off before she could.

“No. Listen to me. It’s not your fault. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else- and they might not have had a friend to find them and take them to the hospital.”

For the very first time, Tori called them friends, and Jade didn’t disagree.

Jade ended up staying with her that night, as her father went to the precinct to begin the investigation. The nurses ran the rape kit, which took hours - by the time Jade was allowed back to see her again dawn had broken.

“You really think of me as a friend?” Jade asked later, as the two of them sat in the room with the television on. Tori turned her head to look at Jade incredulously.

“Of course I do,” Tori said. Jade hesitated, but met her gaze.

“But I’ve been terrible to you,” Jade replied, her voice hard but her eyes soft.

“Sometimes. But you've done nice things for me as well. And you did this,” Tori waved a hand as a gesture to the room.

“Taking you to the hospital was called being a decent human being,” Jade said tersely. Tori smiled and shook her head.

“A good person takes me to the hospital, yeah. But a friend tells the doctors all they can about me. A friend calls my dad, makes sure I have my phone and wallet. A friend stays with me.”

Jade found she had nothing to say to that.

Tori was discharged an hour later- her father had already signed what was necessary before he left, saying to release her as soon as possible. Jade drove them home in silence at 6 am.

“Will you stay with me?” Tori asked when they came to a stop in her driveway.

Jade simply shut the car off and got out.

Tori gave Jade clothes to borrow to sleep in, and they climbed into Tori’s bed. Lying on their backs next to each other, staring up at the ceiling, Jade whispered.

“I’m sorry.”

Tori was silent for a moment; she swallowed, the noise audible in the quiet.

“It’s okay,” She said back, still in a whisper.

“Is it?”

“It will be.”

Neither of them could sleep. They laid in companionable silence for half an hour, listening to each other breathe.

“I’m not sure if it’s a good thing if I remember or not,” Tori said eventually.

“Why’s that?” Jade asked, the two of them still speaking quietly, as if being louder would shatter their tentative friendship.

“No memories to haunt me at night,” Tori replied, “But also no description to give to the police.”

Jade nodded, understanding, even though Tori couldn’t see her. The only light in the room was a sliver between the curtains.

“What if they never find him?” She said after a second, a frightened pitch in her voice.

“Don’t think like that,” Jade scolded, though she couldn’t bring herself to sound stern. “I got you there fast. There’s a good chance they’ll find DNA.” She hated that she even had to say that sentence.

“And if he used a condom? If they don’t find anything? He’s just walking around, free to rape other girls,” Tori lifted her arm and dropped it back on the bed; Jade turned her head to look at her.

“Vega,” She started.

“Do you think he knows me? My name? Or was I just a random target? Did he know I would be there tonight? Is he out there right now thinking ‘I raped Tori Vega’ or-”

“Vega,” Jade tried again.

“Do you think he goes to our school? Do you think he’ll be there on Monday and see me in the hallway, and know who I am while I have no idea who he is to me? Do you think he’d try and do it again?” Tori became progressively more upset as she spoke- it was clear this is what she had been thinking about for the past half hour.

“Tori!” Jade grabbed Tori’s hand, stopping her.

“You have to stop thinking like that.” Jade’s voice was soft, soothing. “We don’t know- and we might never. But what’s important is you, okay? Nothing’s gonna happen to you. If you want, I’ll stay right by you and make sure no one hurts you again.”

Tori smiled and turned her hand so that she could squeeze Jade’s. “I’d appreciate that,” She said.

“Tomorrow we’ll schedule an appointment with a therapist and get some Plan B-”

Tori sat up instantly, “Oh god! I never thought of that!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll-”

“No, we need to get it now- the faster I take it the better the chances it works.” Tori scrambled out of bed to grab a pair of shoes, despite wincing at the movement. Jade blinked, looking after her, before taking a breath and shaking her head.

“Fuck, okay.” Jade followed, putting her boots on and grabbing her phone, wallet and keys.

She tried not to think about how ridiculous she looked, showing up at 7 am to CVS in sweats and combat boots.

Tori did not want to stay in the car. Jade didn’t argue about it.

“We weren’t sleeping anyways,” Tori said on their way back, as Jade squinted and grumbled about the sun and the built in visor not doing anything.

“Yeah,” Was all Jade said in return. Tori took that as she wasn’t really bothered.

They gave up on sleeping when they got home. Tori got them something to eat and took the emergency contraceptive, while Jade looked up nearby therapists for her. They sat in front of the TV and ate sandwiches, and couldn’t really focus on the program despite trying.

“Beck is the only other person who knows what happened,” Jade said eventually.

“You told him?” Tori asked, and even though she didn’t sound upset Jade winced.

“When your dad asked for some time alone, I went to the bathroom and called him- originally to see if he got Andre and Cat home okay, but he asked what happened and I just…” Jade lifted an arm in a half shrug, half ‘fuck’ gesture. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I get it. And I know you guys won’t tell anyone else,” Tori said. She remembered how Jade had looked upon returning to her room. Neither of them looked away from the TV screen.

“Of course. It’s your… information to tell, if you ever decide to do so.”

Jade stayed all weekend, having gone home to her place and picking up some clothes and her school bag on Saturday. They didn’t even talk about it, it was a silent agreement as to what would happen.

Trina was mostly absent and when she was around, she was strangely silent and not annoying. Tori figured her dad must have told her what happened, even though the two sisters never spoke about it.

When Monday came around, Jade took Tori to school as well. They didn’t act particularly friendly, but they weren’t bickering with each other either - and Jade walked Tori everywhere she went, and pretended not to notice the way Tori looked at every male they came across like she could figure out who hurt her that way. It was enough to attract the other half of the group’s curiosity, but Jade’s glare kept them from asking any questions for the time being.

Monday night, their first night apart from each other, it took Tori two and a half hours to fall asleep. She kept looking at her window nervously, like someone was going to break in even though she had locked it and anyone climbing up there was a ridiculous notion.

Even though she didn’t say anything, Jade must have been able to tell - because on Wednesday she wordlessly gave Tori a pocket knife and a can of mace.

On Thursday, when Robbie asked what was up with the two of them when they sat down to lunch, Jade answered with a scarily calm ‘none of your business’, and that was that. By Friday Trina had stopped acting weird around Tori, for the most part. Their friends had adjusted to Tori and Jade’s new dynamic.

With the therapist appointments, it took a month for Tori to stop jumping whenever someone touched her. At six weeks, her skittishness around males had mostly abated, and she was acting less withdrawn and more herself again. By two months, she didn’t need Jade to escort her everywhere anymore. By four months, she went to a party again. She didn’t drink, and she stayed by Jade’s side the entire time, but she went.

They still fought, sometimes, but it was never as bad as it had been- it was mostly teasing, and petty squabbles for the hell of it. 

The police never figured out who assaulted Tori. There was DNA evidence, but no suspects to match it with or against.

But with Jade by her side, Tori healed as best she could.


End file.
